


Lullaby

by silver_fish



Series: fluff bingo! [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Other, Pre-Relationship, Reading Aloud, i hope????
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:08:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23959684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silver_fish/pseuds/silver_fish
Summary: Okay, so maybe Mattiedidwant something a little more than just to help Kaz learn. It’s not exactly their fault she has such a beautiful voice.
Relationships: Kazyn Arluk/Mattie
Series: fluff bingo! [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1647298
Comments: 7
Kudos: 3
Collections: Writing Squad Fluff Bingo





	Lullaby

**Author's Note:**

  * For [greedlings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/greedlings/gifts).



> [twitter](https://twitter.com/laphicets) / [tumblr](https://kohakhearts.tumblr.com)
> 
> fluff bingo prompt!!! “reading to someone” + kaz/mattie. THIS WAS scary but! so fun!!! it’s a little short mostly cause i’m not completely sure how to write them but i hope i did okay?? i looove your kids!!!!! it was such a pleasure to get to write them!! i hope you like it!! and sorry if they're ooc or if i messed up on universe details or anything like that !!! i hope you enjoy tho!! thank u for giving me the privilege of writing these angels <3

Mattie finds the book in one of those library bookshelves that are so out-of-the-way that it’s almost as if books have been put there so people won’t find them.

Of course they find them, though. Mattie is always looking for these sorts of books, things that include knowledge far beyond what’s common, or that tell fascinating new and creative stories. This time, it is in fact a storybook they dig up. And when they find it, the very first person on their mind is Kaz.

They don’t know each other too well yet, but they’ve been practicing reading for quite some time while Kaz recovers from her injuries. This book isn’t really so difficult, they think; it’s more than doable for Kaz, and a quick flip through it reveals gorgeous artwork and short, stilted yet beautiful sentences crafting a story about a princess and a lost kitten.

Mattie doesn’t read it themself. Rather, they check the book out with wide, excited eyes, and later, when the afternoon has settled into evening serenity, they offer it to Kaz.

“What’s this?” she asks, surprised. “Is this for me?”

“Well, sort of.” Mattie smiles at her. “I was thinking maybe you could read it to me. You know, for practice.”

Kaz blinks. “To… You want me to read this to you?”

Mattie doesn’t know much about life on Elsia, but they suppose it makes sense that this would seem a strange arrangement to Kaz, who has never read before and so just as surely has never been read _to_.

“Yeah,” they say confidently. “Read to me. Like…a bedtime story, or something. You’ve had those before, haven’t you?”

“Well…well, I guess, but…” Her voice gets tight, high. She’s anxious, but Mattie couldn’t really say _why_. It’s not as if they’re going to judge her if she mispronounces a word or two. Really, even Mattie does that sometimes still, and they’ve been reading their whole life!

“It’ll be fine! I promise, it’ll be easier than you’re thinking. Just try a few pages, at least? And unless you want to, you don’t have to read to Adler and Anwen.”

Kaz shudders. “They might be a tough crowd, yeah.”

“So?” Mattie can’t quite help bouncing on their heels a bit. “What do you think?”

Kaz looks down at the book in her hands, then back up to Mattie’s face. They hold their breath, waiting, and then…

“Okay, then. I’ll try it.”

Mattie beams at her. “Great! Let’s do it, then.”

For a moment, Kaz says nothing, seeming to debate with herself, and then, tremulously, she says, “Can we…go somewhere a little more private?”

Anwen and Adler probably won’t be coming back upstairs anytime soon, Mattie thinks, but they nod anyway. “We can go to my room, if you like.”

She lets out a soft sigh of relief. “That sounds good. Lead the way.”

Mattie does so gladly, and when they get to their room, they leave the door open just a crack before turning to face Kaz brightly.

“So,” they say, “let’s sit down and then you can read it, right? You don’t have to do it all tonight, of course… There’s quite a bit there, so maybe over a few days or something. What do you think?”

“O-okay. Yeah, all right.” She sinks down on the edge of Mattie’s bed, looking very tense. The book falls to her lap, front cover pointing to the ceiling.

With a little more grace, Mattie plops themself down beside her. “Whenever you’re ready,” they say, as reassuringly as they can manage.

Kaz sucks in a deep breath, then flips open the front cover. There, on the page, is a painted picture of the main character of the story, a nameless woman with a tiara made of gold. Her long dark hair is braided in the painting, but still spills all the way down her back, to her hips. She has her hands raised in the middle of a beautiful dance, though she has no partner. She is entirely alone.

Dragging a finger over the picture, Kaz turns her gaze to the other page, where the first words of the story are.

But she does not speak.

“Kaz?”

She hunches her shoulders, looking suddenly quite a lot smaller, somehow, than she really is. “I… Maybe this would be easier if you pretended to be asleep?”

There is a joking lilt beneath her words, but Mattie contemplates them nonetheless. It _does_ make sense; if they lie down with their eyes closed, it will be no different from any time Kaz has stayed in her own room, by herself, reading new words aloud so that she could show Mattie her progress come morning.

Her tenacity is something Mattie has come to admire about her since they met. Her resilience, too. She does not see it in herself, but she is truly a most spectacular person. Sweet and kind and caring, but tough enough to push through everything she’s had to deal with since…well, before Mattie met her, at least.

It seems almost ironic, then, that reading would be the think that makes her hesitate so, but Mattie thinks they get it. They _do_.

So they say, “I will, then. You can pretend I’m not even here. Then it really will be like a bedtime story,” they add lightly. “You do have a very soothing voice. It’ll be like a lullaby.”

Kaz splutters. “Are you— What? I don’t—”

“It’s all right,” Mattie cuts in gently. “Really. Don’t overthink it. Scooch over.”

She does, and Mattie moves to get into bed proper. Once under the covers, they look over at Kaz one more time and smile as encouragingly as they can.

It seems to take a second, but, eventually, Kaz musters up a smile in return. Bolstered, Mattie lies down and rests their head against the pillow, eyes turned above them. They can see Kaz only in their peripherals, but that’s more than fine; they can hear her when she starts speaking:

“Once upon a time,” she begins, very quietly, words only somewhat disconnected from each other, “there was a young…” She stops, and though Mattie can’t see her they can imagine her, with scrunched up eyebrows, trying to parse the pronunciation of the next word. “Young maiden,” she continues. “She spent her days in…iso—isolation, longing for a…a companion.”

The sound of a page flipping, and then, “One day, she woke during the in night in the…midst…of a destrct-ive storm.” A deep breath. “While the rain pounded against her window, there came a strange noise at her door.” Flip. Pause. “Frightened, the maiden hid, but the noise did not stop. Even-tually, she came to the door and…opened it.”

Mattie turns their head just a bit, enough to see Kaz leaned over the book, dark hair falling in soft, loose curls over her face. They can’t see her eyes, but they imagine the concentration in them, vivid brown determination. Though her voice catches on the occasional word, she recovers herself with awe-inspiring grace. Mattie thinks that perhaps Kaz was _meant_ to tell stories; she speaks with a fierce gentleness, warm and welcoming, far more so even than the blanket draped over them.

“She saw nothing outside,” Kaz continues, and she has only grown stronger, more confident. It is a mystical yet calming cadence that dances around the room. “How—however, when she looked down, she saw a small black…ah, black creature. The maiden let it inside, away from the harsh storm.”

Flip.

Mattie’s gaze drifts again as their eyelids begin to grow heavy. It is not really so late, but they have, after all, been in bed all this time…

“It was a cat,” Kaz says, then stops. Mattie can hear her smile as she adds, “It’s adorable. Look!”

She leans in closer and turns the book so Mattie can see it. With some effort, they manage to sit up just enough to get a look.

Kaz doesn’t fail to notice.

“You’re falling asleep.” Quiet and kind, but perhaps a bit amused, too. “Do you want me to go?”

Mattie stifles a yawn. “N-no, stay. She let in the cat. Then what?”

Kaz laughs softly. “You can’t really be _that_ invested in the story. You’ve probably heard it before, right?”

“Ah, no, actually.” They pull the blanket up to their chin, relishing in its warmth. “It’s not so much about the story anyway… Keep reading, Kaz. I’m listening.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

“Well, all right…” She still sounds doubtful, though. There is a pause while she readjusts, getting back into her same position as before. The paper rustles under her touch, and then she goes on:

“She led the cat to the fireplace, so it could dry off. Then, she asked the cat what it was doing out in the storm. To her surprise, the cat told her, ‘I’m searching for my family.’ They had been separated by the storm, and the cat was very worried about her kittens…

“The maiden promised to help the cat find her family, but they would have to wait out the storm first.” Continuous, melodic. “With no other option, the cat agreed.”

Mattie can see it clearly behind closed eyes. Kaz’s voice encompasses all, somehow both very close and very far at the same time:

“They settled in to sleep for the night as the storm raged on outside. For the first time in her life, the maiden was not— _completely_ alone.” She must stop here, but Mattie can still hear her voice at the edges of their mind, soft and gentle and somehow protective. “Mattie? Are you awake?”

“Hmm?”

She laughs. The sort of laugh Mattie imagines can only exist within a myth, a story of gods, of divine beauty.

“Well, just so you know…it seems like the cat is actually a person. She was, I guess…cursed or something. But maybe we can get there tomorrow night, right?”

“I’m still listening,” Mattie manages, though they can’t quite force their eyes open to prove it.

“It’s okay.” Fondly, tenderly, one of the most beautiful sounds Mattie has ever heard. “I’m getting a little tired myself.”

For a moment, there is nothing.

And then gentle fingers brush against Mattie’s forehead, sweep their hair back.

“Good night, Mattie,” Kaz whispers.

If she leaves the room, Mattie doesn’t hear it. With the traces of a soothing lullaby, a familiar voice, whispering all around them, they are asleep before the door even clicks shut.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are always appreciated! xx
> 
> (p.s. catch me on twitter [@laphicets](https://twitter.com/laphicets) or tumblr [@kohakhearts](https://kohakhearts.tumblr.com) for writing updates. i also sometimes take writing requests on both!)


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